


One Choice Made All the Difference

by Arytra



Series: Two Roads Diverged [1]
Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: Alternate Universe, Families of Choice, Fluffy, Gen, good universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-24 16:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7515466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Countdown to Destruction happened, Tommy ended up adopting five kids, one of which being his former teammate.  Yet it's his second decision on the island that changed how everything would be forever.  The good universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I started a story and partway through ended up creating a second universe for it. In one, the decisions made led to a fluffy universe. In the other, an angsty one. So, I'm writing and posting them at the same time. The prologue is identical for both, but from the next chapter on, they are divergent. You don't have to read both to get what's going on.

Tommy had been insistent that he needed to find Justin when he'd spoken to the others. He'd been the closest to Angel Grove and even though it was high ill-advised to go running into the city, leaving his youngest teammate seemed worse. The current Rangers were too busy to find their former teammate and Tommy should have made sure that the kid was safe with his father before he left. He'd wanted everything to be perfect when he left. The answer was that he never should have left. To hell with Dimitria and what she said, he could have stuck around like Billy did and helped the new Rangers out. Or at least called in more. He wasn't mad at the Rangers themselves because he understood and they'd been great successors. He just wished he'd done more. None of that was going to help now. When he'd found out that Justin's dad wasn't even in town, he'd rushed there. He'd seen the bastard on T.V. and Justin wasn't with him. Tommy was just hoping that meant that he was still in Angel Grove. Then again, he could have been happy if Justin was literally anywhere else that wasn't a horrifying battlefield.

He was counting on the Power to call to Power and that he would be able to find Justin from there. It did seem to be leading him somewhere, but that wasn't an exact destination. To make matters worse, he had started toward the Command Center first before realizing it and he was pretty sure he'd been drawn to the newer team as well. Neither was where he was trying to go at the moment. So when he saw the small, broken abandoned building and Storm Blaster outside of it, he nearly cheered. Instead, he rushed to the front of it, noticing Storm Blaster's distinct look that Justin had told him about over the phone before knocking on the door. The car didn't stop him, so he must have been radiating his own power from the Zeo Crystal. “Justin?”

“Tommy?” The boy stuck his head out from where he was hiding, looking suspicious in a way that made Tommy feel worse for not getting there quicker. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm looking for you,” Tommy answered. “I saw your dad on the news.”

Justin looked at the ground. “He left before everything happened,” he offered and Tommy looked at him sternly.

“When did he try to come back?” He asked. Justin didn't answer. “Come on, you're coming with me.”

“I can't,” Justin said. Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Why not?” He asked. “It's not safe here, Justin.”

“I know!” Justin yelled and Tommy unconsciously took a step back. Justin tried to rein in his temper. “Sorry. I know.”

“Then why can't we get out of here?” Tommy demanded. Justin sighed and motioned for him to follow. Tommy did as his youngest teammate asked. Inside the hovel were four kids, slightly younger than Justin. Justin stood next to them and folded his arms.

“I can't leave them,” he said and Tommy just sighed.

“Justin...”

“They need me!” He insisted, shaking when he spoke. “They don't have anyone else! They lost their parents, Tommy! I can't leave them!”

Tommy reached out and grabbed Justin's shoulders. “Justin,” he said firmly. “I'm not going to leave a bunch of kids on their own. We'll figure out what to do but for now, I'm taking care of all of you.”

“Oh,” Justin said. “Thanks.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he said. “You four too. We're leaving.”

All four of them looked at Justin who nodded. “He's safe,” Justin promised. The kids rushed out of the makeshift home and Tommy looked at him.

“Do you want to follow me in Storm Blaster?” He asked. Justin nodded. “Okay. Can you fit all of them in there?”

“Not legally,” Justin offered. Tommy snorted.

“I'm not stopping a 13 year old from driving a car. I think that we're done with “legal”,” he said. Justin laughed. Tommy turned to the others. “Pick a car and get in. We're getting out of town.”

“Where are we going?” The only girl asked.

“To stay with a friend of mine,” he answered. They didn't ask any other questions, but quietly got into the cars. They were out of town soon after and at a rest stop when Tommy finally looked the four over. He sat down so he wasn't taller than them and recognized the overwhelmed looks on them. “I'm Tommy. I'm an old friend of Justin's.”

“They know,” Justin said. “I had to morph in front of them.”

Tommy nodded. “I'm an old teammate of Justin's,” he said.

“You were a Power Ranger too?” One of them piped up. Tommy nodded. “I'm Ethan.”

For a minute, Tommy thought about questioning the kid on just giving his name, but it had been proven time and time again that most kids treated Power Rangers the same way they were taught to treat other authority figures: They were safe to talk to. The girl looked at him.

“Which Ranger were you?” She asked. “You're a lot older than Justin.”

“Thanks,” Tommy said sardonically. “I had a couple of colors. It's not important right now. What's your name?”

“Kira,” she said, folding her arms. He looked at Justin.

“She thinks Ethan is too trusting, Trent is too shy, and Conner is too broken,” Justin explained. “So she thinks she needs to keep an eye on them.”

“I do!” She said, beginning a fight that Tommy had the feeling had been stated several times in the last day or so. Tommy turned his attention to the last two before they could continue. He was guessing that Trent was the quiet one while Conner was the one Trent's arm was around. Trent looked up at him and then out toward the grass before making a decision.

“He hasn't talked,” Trent said finally. “I think he was there...”

“None of the rest of you were?” Tommy asked and Trent shook his head.

“The house fell on my parents,” he offered. “Justin helped me through the rubble until we knew. But I didn't see much.”

“Car accident,” Kira answered. “They were coming to pick me up.”

“My baby-sitter got a call,” Ethan offered. “It was before she ran away.”

Tommy looked at Justin who nodded. “Yeah,” Justin said, agreeing with Tommy's horror. “I don't know what happened with Conner, but I know one thing.”

“What?” Tommy asked, moving away from Conner so Justin could tell him out of earshot.

“I found him near the lake,” he said softly. “He wanted to know where 'Eric' was. He was wet, Tommy.”

Tommy paled. “He watched his brother drown?” He asked.

“I think so,” Justin answered. Tommy sighed.

“Shit,” he said. Justin looked at him in surprise. “I think swearing is warranted right now, Justin. Alright. We'll wait until this is over and then I'll file for custody.”

Justin blinked. “What?”

“You and I both know that they aren't going to let you go back to your dad, Justin,” he said. Justin nodded. “This way, I know you're safe.”

“No one is going to give a 19 year old custody of five kids, Tommy,” he reminded him.

“It's Angel Grove. They'll let us. Then we're getting you guys into therapy,” Tommy said firmly. “For now, we're going to Hayley's.”

***

When everything was said and done, Tommy was shocked about a few things: One, that Angel Grove had easier adoption laws than apparently anywhere else ever. Two, that they let him adopt five children when he was barely out of high school because he could provide them with a home. Three, that said children took to him pretty quickly, but they adored Justin. Four, Justin was not only a good big brother, but absolutely needed for the household to function and Tommy was grateful that Justin was on his side. He also learned that Hayley had absolutely no faith in him whatsoever.

“When you said you were bringing them back, I supported you. When you wanted to give them a place to live for a while, I backed you up. But explain to me how adopting five kids who all need counseling is a great idea when you're grieving for a father figure and are 19?!”

“I'll be 20 soon,” he argued, igoring the other part for now. Losing Zordon hurt a lot more than he'd every thought possible. “And I can't just let them get split up, Hales. Besides, I'm not alone. I have you and I have the other former Rangers and I have Justin.”

“Justin is one of them!” Hayley argued.

“He's a former Ranger, my teammate, and a genius,” Tommy shot back, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt that he hadn't treated Justin that way when they'd been Rangers.

“And he's a kid,” Hayley emphasized. “And before you try the 'he saved the world' and 'I was his age when I became a Ranger', I'm not saying he can't do those things. I'm saying that he's way too young to help you parent! He's going to have issues of his own.”

“And that's why we're all going into counseling,” Tommy said firmly. She looked surprised.

“Even you?” She asked and he shrugged.

“I have to set a good example,” he admitted. “But I'm not going to be able to do much. I can't talk about the Ranger thing.”

“It's something,” she agreed. “Call the others. We might as well get everyone on board at the same time.”

Tommy smiled. “Thanks,” he said honestly.

“Does that mean we can stay?” Conner asked from the doorway. The others were standing around him with Justin a little further off. All of them looked nervous and Tommy wasn't surprised to see that Hayley looked a little embarrassed.

“You're staying,” Tommy said firmly. “You're also supposed to be in bed.”

“We couldn't sleep so we decided to listen in,” Conner answered. Tommy was glad the kid was talking. He was. He just wished that Conner wasn't so blunt. The others apparently agreed as they just groaned. Other than Justin who just looked at Tommy. Tommy looked back.

“You're staying,” he said again, directing it at Justin. “Now, can you help me get them to bed?”

“Sure,” Justin said, but the younger quartet had already taken off. Tommy sighed, giving a small smile when he noticed that Justin was still standing there. “Are you sure?”

“Yep,” Tommy said. “We'll make it work, Justin.”

“I'm not leaving,” Justin said firmly. Tommy pulled him into a hug.

“Good.”


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One choice changes how the family will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where Trodden and this story diverge. From now on, they'll have separate outcomes.

There had been bumps along the way and both Justin and Tommy would admit that they hadn't done the best job at times, but they were a functional family. All four of the younger kids were active and vocal, other than Trent who Tommy was pretty sure hadn't been vocal to begin with. Still, they were a family. They just happened to be a family where the dad was trying to rebuild Jurassic Park. That was Justin's opinion anyway. He'd gotten involved, endeared himself to Anton Mercer, and often came to help at the island. Tommy insisted he was just trying to annoy him by being there, but he actually brought a lot to the table. To Tommy's relief, Conner wasn't willing to go anywhere near the island even after counseling. The others stayed back with him so he wouldn't feel bad about it. Only Ethan waffled and Justin assured him that he probably wouldn't enjoy going anyway since most of it was pretty boring to watch until the dinosaurs were born.

Which was why Justin just stared when he saw the explosions. He was nearly certain that one of the two scientists on the island would have let him know if this was planned. Granted, he wasn't sure if it would be his adoptive father or Dr. Mercer, but one of them would have told him. He knew that much. As it was, he was pretty sure he needed to hightail it back to the base. He raced toward it, using the Power to keep himself from getting exhausted and stopped when he saw some things going in and out of the building. He headed in that direction when Tommy rushed at him, grabbing his arm and dragging him behind him.

“What's going on?” Justin asked.

“I don't know,” Tommy answered. “But we have a new problem.”

Tommy motioned to the creatures Justin has seen. The younger Ranger looked at him. “What's causing it?” Justin asked.

“Something that calls itself Mesagog,” Tommy answered. Justin thought about it.

“And you can't find Anton?” He asked. Tommy shook his head. “Tommy, there were only three of us here...”

“It's not him,” Tommy said. “He's just hiding.”

“Right,” Justin said, rolling his eyes. “We'll talk about this later. Where are we headed?”

“Away from the explosions,” Tommy said and groaned when several of his tyrannodrones rushed at them. Tommy rushed into fight, happy to have something to distract the conversation. Justin joined but glanced at the other.

“We are talking about this later, Tommy!” He shouted.

“Fine!” Tommy yelled back. They fought their way through and made it to the edge of the island. Tommy looked back and forth. Justin sighed.

“Hold on!” He yelled. “Shift into Turbo!”

“Justin, what...?” Tommy asked, but Justin had already grabbed a hold of Tommy and jumped. The water hit both of them and Justin didn't remember anything else.

***

“He's waking up!” Kim shouted, causing Justin to want to cover his ears. He pulled himself together to look at her. “Easy Justin, you had a bad fall.”

“Kimberly?” Justin asked, trying to open his eyes. Sure enough, the former Pink Ranger was smiling down at him. Jason's face appeared next to hers.

“Hey, Justin,” he said. “You had a pretty bad concussion.”

“Tommy?” Justin asked before Jason could say anything else.

“He's fine,” Jason reassured him. “He's waking up at about the same pace you are, but he'll be fine.”

“It's taking him longer?” Justin asked. There was a polite cough and Justin was able to slowly sit up and see Billy next to Tommy.

“He wasn't morphed,” Billy reminded him. “So while the Power protected him, it didn't do as much as it did for you. Also, he's well...”

“Really old?” Justin offered. 

Kim folded her arms. "Watch it, Justin. It's fine when you're making fun of Tommy, but no friendly fire!"

"Sorry," Justin said, though he was still grinning. "Where are the kids?"

"The other kids," Jason corrected, "are with Zack. We wanted to wait until you woke up and your brothers and sister aren't quiet."

"And neither is Zack?" Justin offered. Jason smiled softly.

"We can all be quiet when we need to be," he answered. Justin matched his smile and didn't bother to push after that. He was guessing that Trini was with Tommy then. Billy would be going between the two. Then again, knowing the group, they probably were all doing that and it was just that Justin was more likely to wake up sooner that had most of them here.

"Well, I'm awake now," he offered. Jason nodded and opened the door, letting in what Justin had been told were four teens and that were more likely hyperactive terriers in disguise. They were at his bed before Jason could even bother to give them the normal speech about being careful. Justin managed to hold in most of his groans.

"Are you okay?" Kira demanded. Justin offered her a comforting smile or at least what he thought was one.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," he answered. "But don't expect any presents from Anton this year. He did something and I think he's the one who caused everything."

"What will Tommy say about that?" Jason asked. Justin rolled his eyes.

"We were having a disagreement over it and then were crashed into the ocean," he answered. "But I'm right and he knows it. There was only three of us on that island, Jason."

"Hmph," Kira said, folding her arms. "I was hoping for a new guitar. But we're going to fix it, right?"

"Could take a while," Justin answered. "I wasn't paying attention to where he was when I was dragging Tommy into the water."

"About that," Conner said, folding his arms and Justin inwardly prepared. He knew what was bothering his youngest brother. "That was an island! Surrounded by water! You both promised you'd be careful!"

Justin pulled himself up, ignoring the pain and protests of the older Rangers. He put his head against Conner's. "I know," he answered. He focused on grounding his brother. "We're okay, Conner. Everything is going to be okay."

Conner didn't answer, but there wasn't a panic attack either. There had been a discussion about whether or not to do it on an island. Justin had mentioned Conner's fear, but Tommy had brought up that it was important to have everything contained in case something when wrong. That coupled with the fact that they knew the other four wouldn't try to sneak in if it was an island as they tended to follow Conner, meant that Tommy more than won out. That said, this was something that they'd both known was possible. Conner just nodded.

Jason set his hand on Conner's shoulder. "Do you want me to call Wes and Eric?" He asked gently. Each of the kids had a non-original Ranger mentor. It hadn't been planned, of course, but each of them had ended up finding one. It gave them someone to talk to who hadn't worked with Tommy, at least not often. Conner had chosen Wes and Eric at some point. Well, he'd chosen Wes, but everyone knew if you chose Wes, they you pretty much chose Eric as well. And the fact that Eric had been the one to punch Tommy for the Moon Mission when he found out that the man had five children who had been worried about him cemented him in all of their eyes as someone to look up to. Wes had just been reassuring to Conner during that time.

"We already talked to them," Conner said. "Taylor found you."

"She's not happy," Kira cut in. Justin held back a sigh. If Kira had called in the panic he knew she had, he wasn't surprised about that. She took her role for Kira seriously.

"I'll apologize later," he promised. All of them rested after that and when he woke up, he wasn't surprised to see Tommy there as well. They'd fix this, but everything was fine for now.


End file.
